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Robert Woods & Ines Jindra

By on November 13, 2005 in Faculty Publications

Knight, David A., Robert H. Woods Jr, and Ines W. Jindra. “Gender Differences in the Communication of Christian Conversion Narratives.” Review of Religious Research (2005): 113–134.

Abstract: Scholars have long sought to find the differences in the ways men and women communicate. Also, researchers have studied the field of religious conversion. Thisfirst-of-a-kind study has sought to find if gender differences arise when men and women communicate the story of their religious conversion. Forty structured in-depth interviews with 20 male and 20 female undergraduate students at a small, private Christian liberal arts university in the Midwest were used to address the stated research question. Five male and five females were selected from each grade level. A non-probability sampling procedure was used to select subjects. The final sample consisted of two Hispanics, one Black, and 37 White non-Hispanic participants. The average age of each participant was 20. Although some authors have suggested that conversion stories of men and women would be similar due to a rhythmic narrative formula and common structural elements, this study has found that significant gender differences in the communication of such narratives do arise in certain specific areas. The majority of men used adventurous metaphors, while the majority of women used peaceful metaphors to describe their conversion experiences. It was also found that the majority of men focused on themselves as the control character while most women focused on someone else. And, men described themselves as clever whereas women described themselves as foolish in their narratives.

Michael Jindra

By on April 3, 2005 in Faculty Publications

Jindra, Michael. “Christianity and the Proliferation of Ancestors: Changes in Heirarchy and Mortuary Ritual in the Cameroon Grassfields.” Africa (Pre-2011) 75, no. 3 (2005): 356-377.

Abstract: During the twentieth century, the ‘death celebration’ became arguably the most important cultural event throughout much of the Western Grassfields of Cameroon. The growth of this ritual festival occurred in the context of major political, economic and religious changes in the Grassfields. This article will focus on how religious changes, particularly the growth of Christianity, contributed to the rise of this event and how it has prompted significant changes in notions and practices concerning the pollution of death, personhood, burial rites and the ancestors. In the traditional hierarchical structure of Grassfields society, only certain titled individuals and chiefs were believed to live on after death and become ancestors. This was reflected in burial rituals. Individuals who became ancestors were buried in family compounds while ‘unimportant’ people were frequently disposed of in the ‘bush’, streams or hurriedly given unmarked burials. Christianity, because of its stress on individual personhood and its message of an afterlife for everyone, became an attractive alternative to established beliefs and practices, especially for young adults, women and those without titles, who were the most disenfranchised in the traditional system. With Christianity, burial rites became standardized and were extended to virtually everyone. Christianity also caused declines in notions of death ‘pollution’ and in beliefs about ‘bad deaths’. Because of continued beliefs in the power of ancestors, the egalitarian notions of personhood stimulated by Christianity have ironically created a ‘proliferation’ of ancestors for whom delayed mortuary rites such as ‘death celebrations’ are owed.

Michael Jindra

By on May 7, 2003 in Faculty Publications

Jindra, Michael. “Natural/supernatural conceptions in Western cultural contexts.” Anthropological Forum13, no. 2 (November 2003): 159-167. doi: 10.1080/0066467032000129824

Abstract: Focuses on the concept of natural and supernatural conceptions in Western culture. Description of the concept of ideals being natural or supernatural; Definitions of spirituality in the Western world; Relevance of supernatural and natural in the context of institutional faith.

Ines Jindra

By on September 16, 2002 in Faculty Publications

Ines, Wenger Jindra. “Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics.” Social Forces 81, no. 1 (2002): 378-380.

Abstract: Are there “culture wars” occurring in countries other than the U.S.? The main theme of this fascinating book is the relationship between religion and politics around the world. In the first part, the author combines an anthropological approach with travelography and takes his readers on a worldwide journey, using the image of religion as a moth circling the flame (politics). Religion, like the moth, increases both its possible gains (e.g., it can energize politics, provide legitimacy and moral leverage) and possible losses (e.g., assassinations of openly religious figures, religious violence or religious lethargy due to influence of the government) by approaching the political flame too closely. In order to understand these issues, he stresses the cultural context of religion over its doctrine.

Michael Jindra

By on April 3, 2002 in Faculty Publications

Jindra, Michael. “Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress.” American Anthropologist 104, no. 3 (09, 2002): 978-979.

Abstract: Why has such an enormous gap developed between rich and poor countries of the world? Some have argued alternatively for differences in geography or environment, political or economic systems, or histories of exploitation. Cultural differences have also been a major explanation, and, given the central role of the culture concept in our discipline, anthropologists should be talking the lead in this discussion, but too often other scholars pick up where we fear to tread, as this book does.

Richard Wallace

By on May 7, 1993 in Faculty Publications

Wallace, Richard Cheever. “Exploring Norms and Moral Authority through Content Analysis of Classic Texts.” Teaching Sociology 21, no. 1 (January 1993): 90-94.

Abstract: This article presents an assignment which can help solve some problems related to teaching. These problems include :how one can teach students to grasp clearly the concepts of norms and sanctions in relation to the more nebulous notions of values and morality; how one can give students practice in the often challenging area of content analysis; how one can bring classical writings from various cultures into sociological curriculum; how one can deal with the realm of ethics in classes without straying toward a parochial ethnocentrism or an “anything goes” cultural relativism.